Did God Really Say That the Serpent Was the Craftiest Creature?

Let me get straight to the point. In Genesis 3:1, most English translations refer to the serpent as the craftiest creature in the garden. Take for example the ESV:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

Genesis 3:1, ESV

My contention is that while this translation is technically correct it is interpretively misleading and inconsistent with the translation of the same word in other contexts.

The word behind crafty in the ESV is the Hebrew word `arum. Looking it up in Hebrew lexicons you’ll find senses like cunning, crafty, clever, shrewd, or prudent. At this point you might think “Great! Cunning and crafty would both be appropriate in the context of Genesis 3:1 then.” But I would like to point out that this word only appears eleven times in the entire Hebrew Bible, and we can look at each instance of the word to gain some insight into its usage. In particular, there is a strong difference in English connotation between calling someone clever or prudent or shrewd or cunning or crafty. With clever or prudent we would associate a positive connotation, someone who uses their mind well for good purposes. With cunning or crafty we would associate a negative connotation like hunting or scheming for someone’s harm or elements of deception.

So here are two questions for research: What is the connotation of `arum in its usages in the Hebrew Bible? What is the connotation of that `arum that the author of Genesis is using in Genesis 3:1 to characterize the serpent?

`Arum in the Hebrew Bible

`Arum is used outside of Genesis 3:1 only in the wisdom literature books of Job and Proverbs. This is significant in that the term already seems semantically connected to some wisdom concepts. In fact, Proverbs seems to associate those individuals described with the term `Arum with the class of people also described as wise, prudent, sensible, etc. This is consistently a group understood positively in Proverbs.

The following passages all seem to actually have a positive connotation of `Arum:¹

A fool’s provocation is known that day,

But the `Arum covers shame.

Proverbs 12:16

A `Arum man conceals knowledge,

But the heart of ignorance announces its folly.

Proverbs 12:23

Every `Arum acts with knowledge,

But an ignoramus spreads folly.

Proverbs 13:16

The wisdom of the `Arum perceives his way,

But the folly of ignoramuses is deception.

Proverbs 14:8

The simple believes every word,

But the `Arum perceives his steps.

Proverbs 14:15

Simpletons take ignorance as an inheritance,

But `Arumim² take knowledge as a crown.

Proverbs 14:18

A `Arum sees harm so that he hides himself,

But simpletons pass on and have to pay for it.

Proverbs 22:3

A `Arum sees harm and hides himself,

But simpletons pass on and have to pay for it.

Proverbs 27:12

Throughout all these examples, the ESV recognizes the positive connotation and translates `Arum as prudent. The CSB similarly uses either sensible or shrewd in each of these cases. In these passages, the `Arum is contrasted with foolish, ignorant simpletons (troglodytes if you will). Similarly the `Arum is praised as having knowledge (consistently a positive trait in Proverbs, and really in life in general), perception allowing them to avoid trouble, and a handle on how to be discrete in social life.

The remaining two uses of `Arum in the Bible are both in Job. Both times the word is used by Eliphaz, so regardless of the connotations in these cases, one has to wonder if the Bible associates the same connotation with it that Eliphaz does (he is not exactly a reliable theological source).

He breaks up the plans of the `Arum

so that their hands do not act with success.

Job 5:12

For your iniquity teaches your mouth

And you have chosen a tongue of `Arumim.

Job 15:5

The ESV translates both as crafty. Incidentally, the translator for Job in the ESV was longtime TMS professor Bill Barrick. So I don’t necessarily want to disagree with him. But I do think crafty in Job 5:12 is somewhat misleading. The immediately following verse reads:

He captures the wise by their `aram³

so that the counsel of the twisted are hurriedly gone.

Job 5:13

Wise is almost always a positive trait. So while the people are described are portrayed as evil, it is unclear that the word `Arum is intended to accomplish this characterization. It is instead already done through words like twisted and the descriptors in later verses of how they have exploited the poor. It is in fact this implication that people of `Arum could be involved in social oppression that I think points to a better understanding of the word as a whole: it has a neutral connotation of cleverness, shrewdness, and cunning. Cleverness (or shrewdness or cunning) are capacities that can be used for good or evil. I believe it is the capacity of the `Arum that is being emphasized, not the moral nature of it (which I think a word like crafty would point toward). Not only would this explain Job 15:5 (it is Job’s iniquity that teaches his cleverness, thereby perverting it), this is the hypothesis I would like to bring into our understanding of Genesis 3:1.

`Arum in Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent is introduced as `Arum, which I’ll now translate as shrewd (clever would work just as well). Let me explain the reasons for this choice.

The narrator of Genesis is renowned for his exceptional literary ability. In particular, there is frequent wordplay and frequent ambiguity in his narratives. The description of the serpent as shrewd in Genesis 3:1 exhibits both these traits.

The narrator’s use of shrewd in Genesis 3:1 is intertwined with two other wordplays in the text. First, in what comes before, the man and his wife in the preceding verse were naked and unashamed. This word for naked is `Arom, which you might notice is oddly close to `Arum. It’s an intentional wordplay. It actually contrasts the innocence and naivete of Adam and Eve with the exceptional mental faculties of the serpent. Having a neutral connotation for both `Arom and `Arum fits this wordplay very nicely.

Later in the text, after Adam and Eve sin, they realize their nakedness and hid it. Nakedness throughout the Bible doesn’t exactly have a positive connotation. It is often associated with poverty or shame. That nakedness has a neutral connotation becomes clear in the reversal of attitude Adam and Eve have toward it.

Similarly later in the text we find another wordplay with Genesis 3:1. In Genesis 3:1, the serpent is more shrewd (`Arum) than all the beasts of the field. But in Genesis 3:14, God says the serpent will be more cursed (`Arur) than all the beasts of the field. One expects that this is a downgrade, moving from something more positive to something more negative. (Tim Mackie says as much but takes the stronger position that the serpent’s shrewdness had a purely positive connotation. I believe his lexical explanation is indefensible given the data from Job. I also disagree with Tim Mackie on a lot of things.)

Now the neutral connotation explanation of `Arum makes the best sense. Not only does it fit the wordplay, it fits the penchant the narrator of Genesis has for ambiguity, particularly in characterization. In introducing the nakedness of the man and woman, he really isn’t condoning or condemning. He’s making the readers ask questions about what’s really going on. In immediately describing the shrewdness of the serpent, the narrator continues the ambiguity (Is the serpent good or evil? It won’t take long to get that resolved.) while adding to the meaningfulness of the human nakedness.

There’s a lesson here. With great power comes great responsibility. To whom much is given much is expected. The serpent’s shrewdness gave him a clear advantage over Adam and Eve, something he could have used for good. Obviously, he did not. But this is a warning for us: if we live as Christians faithfully, we’d model our lives after the instructions of Scripture, including Proverbs. Faithful Christians grow, therefore, in their `Arum. With that growth comes danger. Those who learn more, know more, understand more, can perceive and predict more, etc. are effectively in positions of power over those more naked among us who cannot. The temptation the serpent fell into—tempting the man and his wife to sin—is a temptation all of us as Christians, and especially those more oriented toward or steeped in knowledge and doctrine, should take seriously. Our knowledge and shrewdness is a good thing; Jesus commanded it of us. But our knowledge and shrewdness provides us the potential to do enormous harm. And that is a severe warning to take seriously. Let us not deceive ourselves, and let us certainly not deceive others.

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¹ As usual, translations my own.

² This is a plural form.

3 This is a verbal form related to `Arum, which appears 5 times in the Hebrew Bible, with each fairly consistently meaning to be, act, or make shrewd. The uses in Proverbs 15:5 and 19:25 have clearly positive connotations. The uses in Job and 1 Samuel 23:22 seem more neutral. The use in Psalm 83:4 seems more negative (in that Israel’s enemies act shrewdly against them). But again, this could be neutral in that its the use of the shrewdness, not the shrewdness itself, that is so evil.